This analysis is designed to provide hospitals with a comparative review, over time, of the readmissions measures that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is currently/will be evaluating under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. The analysis also provides an in-depth review of actual and projected performance under the Readmissions Reduction Program.

Similar to the Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program analysis, this update includes a new report called Performance Scorecard. This report provides a detailed review of hospital performance and the factors that drive performance under the Readmissions Reduction Program for federal fiscal years (FFYs) 2013, 2014 and 2015 using actual and estimated data. Using performance and revenue data critical to the Program, the report uses a series of tables and graphs to highlight exposure areas and the conditions that drive the payment penalties by program year. Each section of the report includes text to describe what is displayed, whether it is actual or estimated, how the data relates to the program and why it is important.

In total, the analysis includes three reports. The first report focuses on measure trends, the second is the new Scorecard and the third is the traditional detailed calculation and impact analysis of the current year factor and Program.

Rates included in this analysis are shown over five update/publication periods (2009-2013). The following describes the data sets analyzed and the three-year data collection period associated with each data set:

June 2009 update: July 2005 – June 2008

June 2010 update: July 2006 – June 2009

June 2011 update: July 2007 – June 2010

June 2012 update: July 2008 – June 2011

December 2013 update: July 2009 – June 2012

It is important to note that CMS recently modified its calculation of readmissions rates to better account for planned readmissions. As a result, a new trend line has been started with the December 2013 data and it is likely that the rates published in the December 2013 release will be lower than previous publications.